A Birth day

Anise dashed off from Jessie and flung herself around Angus giving him a huge hug. He wrapped his good arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked..." she began. He lifted her face to look at him.

"Not your fault," he told her. "Not a minute of it."

"He's gone. He left. Jessie's going instead."

"Gone? Where did he go?"

"Don't know, don't care," she said.

"I told Edward I'd go for you..."

"No, no!" she was emphatic. "You've only got one arm. A werewolf will smell the blood. He'll smell that incision, and he'll be drawn right to you. No, you have to stay here this time. I can do this. Jessie thinks I can do this..."

Angus walked over to Jessie.

"I need an honest answer. No bullcrap. Is she ready? I told Edward I would go for her, but she says the werewolf would smell the incision. I know I would increase the risk to them all, but is she really ready to do this without me? I'm not feeling like any sort of a dad to send her off to do this without me."

"She's not without family," Edward said, walking over to Angus and Jessie. "She'll have her granddad and her Uncle Jessie with her. And Uncle Sergio and Aunt Ana. She'll be surrounded with family."

Jessie just chuckled as Anise ran to Angus " okay were done" he said and took off the pads walking over to where they were stood. He smiled as Anise hgged and spoke to Angus then he smiled looking at Anise as he relaxed and nodded. " yep, she's ready" he said smiling to her " you can test her if you want, but she's ready" he simply said " now Im going to take a shower and change into something a little less." he said and chuckled as Edward and Ruby walked over.

Ruby walked with Edward and listened to him say Anise will have family with her " He right, Jessie will be there and you know how protective he is." she added "I trust them and her to make good choices and keep her safe." she told him " I know its natrual to worry, god Im the one who ushaly worries but im good with it, so should you, and as far as your relatives ar concerned we can head right back to the duplex once the funerals done, so you don't have to deal with them, and I know from what Jessie told ginger and I, Jack is in the dog house with Jess so don't expect to see him around for a while knowing Jess" she said moving to kiss his cheek , smelling the smoky smell of a pub she squinted her nose but said nothing about it.

"You're always covering somebody else, making sure everyone else is okay," Anise said to him. "Maybe just this one time, it's okay to let me cover you. I've got this, you know?" He smiled and nodded. He knew her abilities. If she could stay right with them and follow their instructions, she'd be alright.

"Okay," he told her.

"Thank you," she smiled, happy that he wasn't treating her like a little kid, not filling her up with a bunch of rules and instructions. He trusted her, and that meant everything to her.  "I'm going to go shower. You should too. I stink but, man, you smell like a French whore house."

"It was an Italian one," Edward teased.

"Huh?" Anise asked.

"Go shower," Angus said, trying not to laugh. She ran upstairs.

"Ruby's right," Edward told Angus. "You know you're welcome to come here and stay any time you like for as long as you like but right now, you do not need the extra strain and stress of some of the family that will continue to give you trouble if I'm not here.  When we leave, take Simone and your family and go home. We'll catch up with you back at the duplex."  He nodded, not even feeling like arguing.

"Come let me help you rinse off that woman's cheap perfume," Marcus told him. Marcus looked at Ruby. "I'm glad you have better taste in perfume than that. I'll go get him scrubbed up."  he took Angus upstairs.

"There was a woman who wanted to seduce him but the only time he even realized she was there was when she tried to take hold of his whiskey bottle. Then he'd just slap her hand like he was swatting a fly. Other than that, he was too preoccupied to even notice her," Edward told Ruby, laughing.

Ruby smiled then just smiled as Anise spoke of him smelling like a french whore house. She could not help but chuckle as Angus said it was an Italian one, She looked at Edward and as Marcus took him to wash up she listened to Edward explain and she nodded "Good because I would so turn her into a frog, or scorch her ass" she said still smiling " I trust Angus." she said smiling at Edward " I'll take him home after the funeral, I'm sure he'll relax once were away from his toxic family"

Jessie washed and returned from what was once Jack's room but now was his. " that shower is to die for" he said sitting down outside next to Ruby who now had Caprice in her arms. Jessie took her from Ruby and started to make her giggle by pulling faces as they waited for the others.

Marcus helped Angus clean up, and standing under the hot water and smelling the soap, such a simple thing, when paired with how quiet and steady Marcus was, was a healing thing.

"Marcus?" Angus asked as he sat on the bed while Marcus got clean clothes for him.

"Yeah, Mate?"

"Am I risking Ru and my girls tomorrow?"

"No," he said. "I've got you. And Jessie will have you too. I haven't talked to him yet but I will. And so will Edward. You know that. It'll be alright. Besides, they're not after the girls. They're after you. Ruby and the girls don't inherit a thing, do they?"

"Not directly. Not from Edward. They do from me but not from Edward. I'm sure Edward is probably working on a change of that, but they don't know that."

"So there's no pint in going after them. You, however, if they get rid of you, then Edward has to leave it all to someone else."

"They don't know him as well as they think they do. If anything happened to me, he would make sure that Simone, Ruby and my kids were well taken care of, and then he'd sell everything else off and give the money away before he left it to any of them."

"I dont' think that's in their thinking."

"It never has been," Angus said.

"Again, then. You're the target, not the girls."

"So, we go home tomorrow, where Ruby's crazy mom and Gelding are still after me. Peachy."

"Well, let's see what Robert's thoughts are about that when we get back. Until then, let's enjoy one of the last of Rosaria's incredible suppers and then get a good night's sleep. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow. I'm sure Edward and Jessie will help Anise get equipped, but i think everyone will be up extra early, by about five, so the girls can make it to the salon by seven."

"They should go and enjoy it by all means. They never do that, so a morning to pamper themselves is a good idea," Angus said.

"With a a little luck, Rosaria has supper in the works. I"m hungry,' Marcus said.

"You're never hungry."

"I spent all afternoon walking all over the village looking for you. And now I'm hungry," Marcus laughed, help him dress. They went back downstairs when Marcus finished helping him dress. Marcus and Angus could smell supper cooking.

"It's shrimp scampi," Marcus said.

"How do you know?" Angus asked.

"I can smell it," Marcus grinned. "Its one of my favorites. A good shrimp scampi with a glass of white wine? It doesn't get any better."

Ruby and Jessie smelt food from inside and Jessie stood up "Yummy scampy" he said and Ruby laughed as she and he walked into the house to find Angus already down with Marcus "Hey guys, oh that smells wonderful" Jessie said "Shrimp scampi and a glass of wine, white to be exact, right Marcus?" he said grinning " white with white meat and red with red meat." Ruby just chuckled behind him as she walked over to Angus.

" Have you decided what you want to do tomorrow after the funeral?" she asked gently, knowing she would go where ever he wanted to go. She sat down and placed Caprice on a fluffy rug in front of her accioing some toys for her to play with. She knew he was stand off ish about returning knowing her perents were back at the duplex and even she just wanted time where there was no conflict from ether family. She smiled seeing Ginger and Anise join them in the living room.

"It's definitely scampi," Marcus agreed with Jessie. "I think a lot of people follow that white with white and red with red. Frankly, I think people should drink whatever they like. However, in this case, a good dry Chablis is great with scampi."

Angus listened to them talking about wine, and when Ruby asked him what he wanted to do after the funeral, he shrugged. "I think I'll rent a cave somewhere away from all of it. What do you think?"

Carlo had been busy setting the table in the dining room for a change when he had heard someone calling from the floo in Edward's office. He came to find someone and found Angus first.

"Qualcuno ti vuole davanti al caminetto dell'ufficio. Si chiama Roberto," Carlo said.

"Grazie," Angus said. He looked at Ruby. "I'll be straight back," he told her. He went into Edward's office and closed the door, and saw Robert waiting. "What's up?" Angus asked.

"So, Nigel and Edward and Marcus have kept me informed," Robert said. "How are you--really?"

"Physically? I'm alright," Angus said.

"Good. Now, how about the rest of you?"

"It's stressful," Angus said.

"Yeah. I'm sure it is with people wanting you dead on all sides. I can understand why you want to go to the funerals tomorrow. What are you plans after that?"

"Edward says we should come home," Angus replied.

"I know. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Ruby just asked me that, and I don't have an answer for her."

"Let me ask you. Is it helpful for you to have Marcus?"

"More than you know," Angus said, sitting next the fireplace, betraying far more fatigue than he had intended. "I've come to rely on him too much."

"Not possible under the circumstances," Robert replied. "That's why I sent him. Look. David and Khaat are getting on just fine. James has been laying low, for whatever reason. If you want to keep Marcus til some of this simmers, then I'll leave him with you for awhile longer, regardless of where you decide to go. I think they may have a point, though, that you are a bit insulated here from your family. You won't have that option elsewhere."

"I've thought of that," Angus said.

"If you come home and it just doesn't work, we'll make arrangements for you and Ruby and the kids to go stay elsewhere for a bit to get a break. Fair enough?"

"Yeah. Sounds fine," Angus said.

"Alright. And if you change your mind and skip the funeral, I think that is just as much of a sign of strength and force if you show them that they are just not worth their energies. Either way gets your point across. You do what you want to do, and not what you feel you have to do. We'll see you either tomorrow night or the next morning. I'm sending another little package to you. It will help your potions to be more effective. Just give it a try, and let me know. Goodnight, Angus."

"Goodnight," Angus said, watching the portal close. He went back to the others. "Apparently he's sending someone else with another package of some sort."

"Okay," Marcus said.

Ruby looked at Angus and took his hand in hers " well it wld be quiet but a little drafty, but do what you feel is right." she said smiling at him hearing carlos speak to Angus she nodded " okay" she said simply and looked at Marcus and Jessie talking about wine to go with the food.

"oh I agree if it enhances the flavor of the food why stike to that rule." Jessie said " like cola and ice cream, they go together but some don'tthink so" he looked at Ruby who pulled a face making him laugh.

"I never got that" she said and chuckled catching Caprice from roling over to Jessie. Jessie walked over and took Caprice from her holding her as she squeeled happy to be in her uncles arms as he silly danced around the room.

"Coke and ice cream? Oh. You mean a coke float? That's an American thing, but they actually don't use coke that often. Most of the time, if they're making a float, they use root beer instead," Angus said.

"What's a root beer float?" Edward asked.

"They pour a root beer into a tall glass and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to it. Root beer is sort of treacle-like. Sort of. So the molasses flavor doesn't really compete with the ice cream. They work together actually pretty well, but you have to like root beer first," Angus said.

"Root beer is amazing," Andrew said, coming up to them with another package.

"So says the American," Marcus laughed, as Andrew handed him the package.

"And I'm to tell you that Michael is cooking tomorrow night for supper if you come home in time for that. I don't know what he's cooking, but I presume it will be edible."

"Thank you," Angus said.

"And as much as I'd like to stay and socialize, Kate's making some sort of quadruple chocolate cookies, so I'm buggering straight back," Andrew said.

"Okay," Marcus laughed. "See you later." Andrew ported right back out again.

"Rosaria has our dinner ready for us in the dining room," Edward came in and announced to them. "Come and eat, Everyone."

Jessie nodded " thats it, yeah the root beer one it hevenly" he said but Ruby shook her head " nope, nether should mix , we'll have to agree to disagree" she said and chuckled she saw Andrew arrive with a box then hand it to Marcus then say he ahd to get back " okay that sounds delishious, we'll try and be back in time for dinner but Im not sure what Angus wants to do yet, so we'll see you when were home" she said smiling as he aperated out .

Hearing Marcus mention the food was in the dinning room she smiled and picked up Caprice knowing she would love the food Rosaria had made for them. Entering she saw a small high chair and smiled setting Caprice down in it and strapping her into it for safty as she aw Ginger and Anise enter the dinning room she also saw Jessie pull out a chair for both Ginger and Anise to sit on before he sat down himself .